


Scream (They'll Hear You Better)

by FrogFacey



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Based on a Dream, Frank's a witch, Gerard and Mikey are vampires, I am in an intimate relationship with commas, I'll try to explain everything, M/M, Obligatory vampire Gerard, Tags May Change, There's a lot of confusing backstory stuff about witches and vampires, three cheers for continuity errors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-01 00:47:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12693579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrogFacey/pseuds/FrogFacey
Summary: Their eyes widened when Frank walked in and they sunk back further, “You did this.” they pointed at the window.“Sorry.” Frank tried on his best gentle smile, but from Gerard’s face, he could tell it didn’t really work, “I forgot.”-currently being rewritten, ironing out the plot and also fixing all the continuity errors-





	1. 1

It was around 3am when Frank heard his window break. He didn't see it happen, he was too distracted by his guitar and fiddling with his amp to notice. Really a testament to his own focus.

Now he was crouched down, surrounded by glass, trying to move shards with his pick, because there was a bat lying underneath a pile of what once was his window.

He supposed he should probably grab a teatowel or something and maybe give it some water and maybe call some kind of animal service? But it was 3am and 3am Frank had a problem when it came to thinking.

He was halfway through moving the glass, using his pillowcase as a glove now instead of his pick, when the bat started to move. He breathed out a sigh of relief which was caught right back into his throat when it started...Pulsating...kinda?

It was writhing around in it's little pile of glass, stretching and twisting in ways no bat should, bones cracking and popping until it stopped being bat shaped and started being human shaped.

Frank had a human in his bedroom.

He swallowed, considering poking said human with his foot. 

Though...It technically wasn't human. Either they were cursed -which was highly unlikely considering curses don't usually allow the subject to turn _back_ into a human, Frank should know, his aunt had been turned into a wasp before- or Frank had an actual vampire in his bedroom.

He hoped it was the former, as Frank had heard from his grandfather, witches were the more mature half and had moved on from the whole war thing -Frank didn't know much about the war aside from that it was very colourful and there was also a lot of blood- and vampires kind of...didn't.

The human/bat/hopefully not vampire groaned and rolled over and moved their arm to rub their eyes. Frank winced a little, mainly because the human/bat/hopefully not vampire just rolled _onto glass_ and also because Frank was pretty sure he saw fangs and that was really not helping his case of “maybe it’s just a...werebat...”

Frank watched in stunned silence as the vampbatthing yawned, showing rows of sharp teeth. Frank gulped. They weren’t like the vampires in movies with the four fangs. Every tooth was sharp and pointy, the canines were longer and sharper than the rest, doubling up like a shark. 

He held his breath as the vampire opened their eyes. They groaned and rubbed their eyes again, running their hand down their face and slowly but surely coming back to consciousness. They looked around the room, expression changing from pained to confused to scared in a matter of seconds. Their eyes met Frank’s and they started to scream.

They crawled back against the wall, only breaking eye contact to cover their face with their forearms, visibly shaking.

Frank ran a hand across his face, oh shit.

“Hey,” he put on his best calm, soothing voice, “Are you okay?”

“St-Stay away.” They said, peeking out from behind their arms, “Witch.”

Wow, not the voice he was expecting to come out of someone who looked like they should be saying ‘Ello Guv. What with their long black hair and crisp white button up shirt with the weird ruffles on the sleeves. They also didn’t seem like the kind of person to be...cowering. They looked more like the ‘You can’t catch me, I’m already dead.’ kind of type.

“Listen, why don’t you just tell me where you’re from.” Frank held his hands out in the kindest way possible.

The vampire flinched.

Frank pulled his hands back.

“Tell me who you are.” The vampire said, -well, they more demanded, but they weren’t really in the position to be demanding- their voice a little less shaky.

“I’m Frank, Frank Iero.” He said, crouching down slowly, as to show that he wasn’t making any move to hurt them. What, if it worked with dogs it might as well work on vampires.

They hesitated, slowly but surely bringing their arms down to rest on their knees. “Gerard.”

Frank nodded, “Gerard.”

He took a tentative step towards them, but they pressed themselves further against the wall.

“Gerard, listen, this is far away from any vampire area, I just want to know why you’re here.”

They swallowed, looking Frank up and down, then giving his room a look. They nodded slightly, seeming to be done with their little pep-talk, “Looking for someone.”

“Looking for someone? Like, a friend?” Frank raised an eyebrow.

“No.” They shook their head.

Frank was pretty sure this was all he was going to get out of them.

“Okay. Well, it’s late and you look tired, there’s a couch-bed in the lounge room if you want to sleep on that.” Frank sat back on his heels, gesturing to the bedroom door.

Gerard furrowed their eyebrows, looking very obviously confused.

“Uh. Right. Vampire. I’ll just...I’ll just show you.”

Frank stood up and Gerard sunk further against the wall, shoulders beginning to shake again.

He didn’t say anything, just continued walking down the hallway. He could hear Gerard a few steps behind him, but he didn’t want to freak them out by turning around, so he just hoped they were still following him and weren’t getting distracted by ~new age things~ like toothbrushes.

The couch took some _persuasion_ to unfold, it was old and the springs were shitty, but soon enough and with a lot of cursing, -Literally and probably magically, Frank had a habit of forgetting what words did what- he was finally able to get it out.

Gerard was staring wide eyed from the corner, refusing to move when Frank waved him over.

“I don’t trust you.” They said, crossing their arms matter of factly. 

Frank nodded, “That’s why you’re sleeping in the lounge room. You can leave any time you want, continue your search and whatnot.”

Gerard didn’t move as Frank turned to walk away, but he did hear the rustle of fabric as he walked back down the hallway.

He closed his bedroom door and inspected the mess, sweeping everything into a corner with the old broom that had never really left his room.

He pushed all the rubbish off of his bed and put his guitar back in her rightful place. He climbed into bed after that, ignoring the crumbs on his mattress.

It was pretty much 5am when Frank finally got to sleep, but through his half asleep daze he was pretty sure he could hear crying coming from the lounge.


	2. 2

When Frank walked into the loungeroom that morning, Gerard was still there. They were curled up on the bed, huddled in a pile of blankets, cowering from the light coming in from the window.

Their eyes widened when Frank walked in and they sunk back further, “You did this.” they pointed at the window.

“Sorry.” Frank tried on his best gentle smile, but from Gerard’s face, he could tell it didn’t really work, “I forgot.”

They narrowed their eyes but didn’t make any protest. Frank walked over to the window, staying as far away as possible from the bed, just to make sure Gerard wouldn’t freak out.

Gerard seemed to untense as soon as the curtains were closed, coming out of their little ball just a tad.

“Better?”

They nodded.

Frank nodded back and went into the kitchen, he dug through the cupboards and fridge but couldn’t find anything vaguely vampire friendly except for maybe the old and somewhat worrying chicken schnitzel that Ray had gotten him that one time he’d conveniently forgotten about the whole vegan thing.

He didn’t know if vampires even got salmonella, but he didn’t want to risk it.

“I...Don’t think I have anything you could eat.” Frank looked back at Gerard from the kitchen counter.

At his words, Gerard hissed, -They actually fucking hissed, like a cat or maybe a snake?- curling back up into the blankets, “So what? You’re going to starve me? What then? Fuck up my brain and get me to tell you everything? Keep me locked away in your basement forever?”

“Woah, woah, woah.” It took Frank a second to register, mainly because Gerard had just sworn at him which was something he didn’t really think they could do “There’s none of that happening, I don’t even have a basement.”

Gerard didn’t seem convinced.

“Listen, I’ll get you some food soon okay? Like, steak and stuff. Maybe even some of that pig blood from Ray’s mum when I can.” Frank ran his hand through his hair, “I’m not going to starve you or fuck with your mind or tie you up and leave you somewhere defenceless, okay?”

Gerard shrunk back and mumbled something under their breath, curling up further when Frank walked past.

“I’m going to go to the shops, there’s an umbrella by the door if you want to leave. I’m not making you stay.” Frank smiled at Gerard again.

Gerard gave him a look that very much echoed that of a stray puppy being cornered.

Frank nodded and opened the door, “I’ll back soon.”

-

The walk there was long and boring and Frank’s phone was pretty much dead so he didn’t have anything to do to keep him busy. He’d drive but his Mum had the car and he didn’t trust himself enough behind the wheel.

At least it wasn’t cold, that would make everything worse.

He nearly died a few times crossing the road, but he managed to make it all in one piece. -Minus the pocket lint he’d found in his back pocket and freaked out about because he thought it was an animal or something-

It wasn’t that much of a spectacle, only a small corner store which had mixtures of isles that made absolutely no sense, like toothpaste and cleaning products or bread and candy. The people there were interesting at least.

Frank was halfway through the meat and frozen dessert isle when he ran into Ray.

“Since when do you eat steak?” He said, instead of a simple hello or something.

“Long story.” Frank shrugged, but Ray looked genuinely curious, “I’ll tell you on the way home.”

“I’m coming to your house?” Ray raised an eyebrow, fiddling with the handles of his basket.

“You’ll want to after you hear what happened.” 

Ray followed Frank around the store as he grabbed everything, eyebrows raising almost to his hairline because he’d heard of vegetarians and co. eating fish and stuff but not _red meat_.

“Hey, does your Mum have any of that pig blood left?”

“Frank, you’re scaring me.”

The checkout was the most painful part. When Ray finished paying he stared over Frank’s shoulder and made worried noises every time he scanned something that wasn’t usual frank things, which was most of it.

“Right, you’ve paid for everything and everything’s in a bag now can you _please_ tell me why you’re acting so weird?”

Frank gulped and looked around, making sure no fangs came out from behind the corner to seize his neck and drag him back into the forest, or wherever they came from.

“Promise you’ll believe me?”

Ray threw his hands in the air, “Yes I’ll believe you. Just tell me!”

Frank nodded and shot another worried look over his shoulder, “Right. So, last night at assfuck-o’clock this thing crashed through my window, I mean it’s totally shattered.”

Ray raised an eyebrow again.

“Anyway, when I checked what it was it turned out to be a bat? I’m not quite sure what kind of bat, but it was just... Lying there. It didn’t look like it was breathing so I had to check on it.”

“Uh huh.” Ray gave him a look that said something along the lines on ‘Hurry the fuck up.’

“Right yeah so then it turned into a person. Not like the magic poof of smoke and then there’s a person lying there. It was like cracking and popping and twisting and bending and snapping and it was honestly the grossest thing I’d ever heard.”

 

Ray’s eyes were a little wider now.

“And I thought they might have been like, cursed or something but then they opened their mouth and oh my god Ray it was like a shark.”

“Right.”

“So yeah, long story short I have a vampire on my couch.” Frank shrugged.

Ray nearly dropped his groceries, “You have a vampire...On your couch.”

Frank nodded.

“And you’re bringing me...Why?”

“Because they’re jumpy and accused me of trying to starve them this morning. You’re calming, they’d like you.”

“They?” Ray looked confused

“Very androgynous.”

“Right. Well I mean, understandable really, the whole war thing and vampires being very… Past eccentric.” 

Frank rolled his eyes, “Yeah I know but still…”

By now they were almost halfway home and Ray still hadn’t stopped asking questions, everything from what their name was and how old they looked to what they sounded like and if they had gotten angry at Frank yet.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to be bringing me here if they still don’t trust you yet?” Ray asked as they reached Frank’s house.

“Honestly? I have no fucking idea.”

Frank opened the door.


	3. 3

Gerard wasn’t on the couch, they weren’t in the bathroom or the kitchen or Frank’s room. 

They weren’t anywhere.

“Gerard.” Frank called, “I brought food, it isn’t poisoned or anything. I promise.”

There wasn’t any reply, though Frank wasn’t really expecting one.

Ray was getting kind of impatient, tapping his foot every few seconds and fidgeting with his grocery bag.

“Gerard?” Ray called out, quieter than Frank.

There came a squeak from somewhere down the hallway, Ray heard it before Frank did and started walking.

Frank scrambled to catch up with him.

“Listen, if we find them, you have to be quiet and careful and-”

“Right, yeah.” Ray nodded, “Jumpy.”

There was nothing in Frank’s room aside from the chip packets, clothes on the floor, the old broom and multiple empty bottles of water. There wasn’t anywhere you could hide really, they’d already checked behind the door, in the closet and in Frank’s bed. 

“Gerard?” Ray called out again, doing a little spin to see if there was anything he missed.

There was another squeak and Frank and Ray followed it to Frank’s cd shelf. It seemed empty at first, though at closer inspection he could see something small and slightly fluffy hiding behind his black flag cds.

“Gerard, is that you?” Frank crouched down and slowly but surely shifted the cds, just enough to be able to get a decent enough look at the bat which was hopefully Gerard.

God, Frank would have an aneurysm if there was _another_ vampire in his house. 

The bat squeaked and backed up a bit, staring at Ray with wide eyes. -though, it was kind of hard to tell. Bat’s eyes sort of looked like that anyway-

“Gerard, it’s okay, he’s harmless. You can come out now.” Frank moved the cds so that Gerard could easily walk out.

They didn’t move.

Ray crouched down beside Frank, watching as Gerard tried to hide further in the shadows. It didn’t really work as they were taking up most of the gap already, but it’s the thought that counts right?

“Hey Gerard, we’re not going to hurt you. I promise.” Ray said in his gentlest voice, which Frank had to admit, was pretty gentle. If he were a freaked out vampire it would have totally worked on him.

Apparently it worked on Gerard too because they climbed out from the cd shelf, scrambling to the floor. 

Frank guessed that it was probably normal for vampires to bend and snap and just generally have a really gross time when turning back into a human because with a few snaps, crackles and pops and a few seconds of visibly jellifying, there was suddenly a human shaped Gerard back in his room.

They lunged at Frank, grabbing him by the jacket collar.

“Why did you bring someone else?” Their voice was raised louder than Frank had ever heard it before, “Who the fuck is he?”

Before Frank or Ray could answer, they turned to Ray, “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

Ray took a step back, wincing as Gerard bared their teeth at him. He stared, unblinking, at their fangs.

“I’m Ray. Frank brought me here because he wanted me to meet you.” He said, but it came out as more of a shaky mumble.

Gerard took a step towards him and Ray stumbled back, giving Frank a fearful look from the corner of his eye.

“Why? Am I interesting to you?” Gerard took another step further, “Do you want to lock me up in a glass case for you to admire?”

“No I-” 

But Gerard wasn’t listening.

“Come one, come all! See the Demon Child, horror of the night!” They accentuated every word with a step forward and raise in volume until they had crowded Ray back against the shelf.

“Gerard, he’s not here to hurt you.” Frank said from behind him, it was all and all pretty useless.

Gerard grabbed Ray’s shirt and began to shake. Frank thought it was from anger at first until they slid to their knees and wrapped their arms around themself. They were making noises that sounded like they would have been crying if they had any bodily fluids left to spare.

“Gerard, hey.” Frank reached out to comfort them but they flinched away almost violently, “Gerard we’re not going to do that. There isn’t any research happening and there isn’t any freakshow. It’s okay.”

Gerard sniffled rubbed their eyes, not looking up at the either of them.

“Frank got food. I’ll cook everything, we can bring it in here if you don’t want to come out. We won’t do anything that’ll make you uncomfortable.” Ray said, crouching down in front of Gerard, “Is steak okay?”

Gerard nodded quietly and Ray stood back up, motioning Frank to follow him. 

They closed the door behind them and Ray began walking into the lounge room, not looking at Frank once. He did the same while walking into the kitchen, unpacking the groceries and turning the stove on.

He was still ignoring Frank as he pottered around in the kitchen, digging through Frank’s spice rack and poking the steak with his spatula muttering about “How would a vampire like their steak?”

He then laughed a bit and muttered “Stake.” and went right back to being generally emotionless and ignoring Frank again.

“Ray, I know you’re angry at me.” Frank said from the doorway, “But could you please maybe talk to me?”

Ray sighed, long and heavy and looked at Frank, “Did you know this would happen?” 

Frank shrugged, it was a kind of lazy shrug because that whole guilt thing was kicking in and he felt like this wasn’t really an appropriate situation to be shrugging.

“Frank,” Ray said again, “Did you know they would react like that?”

“I mean I thought that maybe they would be scared but I didn’t think it would be _that_ bad.”

“So you knew that Gerard wouldn’t be okay with it?” Ray had turned his attention back to the pan.

“Yeah.”

Ray glared down at the spatula, it was clearly meant for him but Frank was pretty sure he just didn’t want to look at him right now. In the same way embarrassed parents go “You don’t belong to me.”

“Don’t fucking do that.” Ray’s voice was less friendly than usual, “You don’t fucking do that to someone.”

Frank opened his mouth but Ray cut him off.

“Not Gerard, not me. They were still scared of you, Frank. They still didn’t trust you and you just went ahead and brought someone else into the mix. They reacted violently and I could’ve gotten hurt. Fuck, they could’ve gotten hurt.”

Frank stepped away from the kitchen doorway and sat on the bed, he put his head in his hands and thought.

“I’m sorry Ray.” He said, sincerely too.

“You should-You should say sorry to Gerard.” He sighed, “How well done do you think vampires would have their steaks?”

-

The door was open when Frank and Ray made their way back down the hallway, Ray substituted by knocking gently on the wall. There was a startled yelp and then Gerard was standing in the doorway, shoulders hunched and arms wrapped around their stomach.

They looked up wearily as Frank handed him the plate, “Ray’s really good at cooking, trust me.”

They nodded and took it wordlessly, sitting cross legged in the middle of Frank’s room and tearing into it. Frank watched as their fangs tore into the meat, shredding it into ribbons. He imagined for a moment what it would look like if that happened to a human, and then shivered. Too much blood.

He leaned on the doorframe and looked back at Ray. He took a deep breath, “I’m sorry for bringing Ray over, I should have known it would’ve scared you.”

Gerard paused for a moment, staring down at their plate before looking back up at Frank with big eyes.

“Sorry for being scared.” They said, shrinking back, as if expecting to be yelled at or something. 

Something in Frank’s stomach twisted.

“No, you don’t have to apologize. I get it, it’s new and scary and I’m scary.” Frank stood up from the doorway, he didn’t walk in, just stood up and made himself more visible, “You just gotta work on that whole...Lunging thing.”

Gerard hesitated, nodding and going back to eating.

“Hey uh...Is the steak alright?” Ray leaned over Frank’s shoulder, “Cooked alright?”

Gerard looked up again and nodded, giving Ray a small thumbs up. Ray smiled back and sent one back before ushering Frank out of the doorway.

 

He sighed again and leaned on the back of the front door, “You’re either going to have to learn how to make all this shit yourself or get an extra bed for me because let me tell you, I do not have the time or patience to come here every day to cook for Gerard okay?”

Frank nodded and watched as Ray waved and walked out the door.

Then he had the familiar sinking feeling of _fuck_.

He was responsible for a vampire now wasn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a sneak peek of the next chapter written by my friend:
> 
> Frank sighed and pulled out his huge gay COCK and turn too gee
> 
> “Wuzzape.” he wonked
> 
> I gess he have to ete des cuck


	4. 4

Frank sat in the pile of clothes, digging through black shirt after black shirt to try and find something that would fit Gerard. They’d been wearing the same thing for two days, probably more, and as much as he didn’t want to be rude, Frank could tell by looking at them.

He didn’t want to dress them up like some kind of teen who’d listened to Green Day once and suddenly thought they were punk -or whatever the hell his fashion sense was- because that just seemed mean. He also didn’t know how kindly Gerard would take to skinny jeans because that seemed to be the only kind of pants Frank owned at this point.

He figured he could just let Gerard dig through his closet and find something they liked and just...Take out his stuff first? 

Frank sighed and began to dig through the pile of clothes, pulling out the shirts and shit that were _his_ and his alone. It’s not that he trusted Gerard with his stuff, it’s just that he didn’t want to get blood on his ye olde band shirts.

Gerard was currently asleep on the couch bed, curled up in a pile of blankets after eating a tray and a half of semi cooked kranskies. At least they didn’t have to be scared of being starved?

Frank didn’t know if it was fear of witches or fear in general, that made them so anxious around him. He was hoping that it wasn’t the case of Gerard actually having had this shit done to him before because the thought of that made Frank’s stomach churn in all the worst ways.

He didn’t really want to wake them up but he guessed it wasn’t comfortable to be sitting in the same clothes for at least two days. 

It was entirely possible that they didn’t sweat, therefor didn’t smell and therefor had no need to really change ever but Frank didn’t know how comfortable he was with a vampire sitting on his couch wearing the same thing every day like a cartoon character.

Frank stood up and made his way back into the lounge room, stepping quietly around the bed to sit on the floor.

As much as he promised that there was no research going on and Gerard wouldn’t wake up in a lab with old timey scientists holding scalpels and needles, he couldn’t help but collect some interesting facts.

Such as: Vampires snore.

Gerard was pretty much buried in blankets, but Frank could still hear their soft snores and weird little peep noises as they slept. He was halfway between That Is The Cutest Thing I’ve Ever Heard and This Is Slightly Unsettling.

He sat and listened as Gerard rolled over and opened their eyes, burying themself further in the blanket.

“Hi Gerard.” Frank waved at them from the floor.

“Hi Frank.” Gerard mumbled back.

He paused for a second, “I uh...I found some clothes if you want them, you can pick out the the things you like?”

Gerard pulled the blanket down from their face and lifted up their arm to inspect the ruffles, “Can I see?”

Frank nodded, “Yeah they’re in my room.”

 

Gerard sat up and shuffled along behind Frank, yawning every now and then.

Another fact: Vampires can yawn.

Frank knelt down beside the pile of clothes and did some jazz hands for dramatic effect.

Gerard sat down beside them, giving the clothes an odd look.

“Yeah, I guess it’s not exactly what you’re used to.” Frank said, scratching the back of his neck.

Gerard nodded vaguely and started digging through the pile of clothes, humming at the things they found interesting.

It took a little bit, but Gerard finally found an old black and white stripy shirt that made Frank’s eyes hurt and one of the few pairs of jeans that didn’t have some kind of tear in it.

“You can go get changed in the bathroom if you want.”

-

“Holy fuck.” 

Frank looked up from his half eaten apple and looked down the hallway, “Are you okay Gerard?”

“The mirror.” 

Frank’s stomach sank as he stood up and speed walked down the hallway. Repair magic took way too much energy and he really didn’t know if he’d be able to replace it if it was broken.

But when he walked into the bathroom he was met with not broken glass covering the floor, but with Gerard pressed against the wall, inspecting the side of the mirror.

“What about it?” Frank asked, kind of distracted by the fact that Gerard really suited those clothes, better than Frank did, which kind of made him a tiny bit annoyed.

Gerard didn’t say anything, just walked in front of the mirror and waved their arms at their reflection, “It’s not enchanted is it?”

“Oh!” Frank grinned, happy to finally understand something after the past two days, “There’s no silver.”

Gerard’s eyes widened and they pressed their hand to the glass, “No silver?”

“Yeah, that means,” Frank said, walking behind Gerard, “That you can see your reflection.”

Gerard sat on the edge of the bathtub and just stared at their reflection, wiggling their fingers every now and then to make sure it was real “Huh.”

“D’you want to come back into the lounge room? It’s kind of cold in here.” It wasn’t entirely true, but his bathroom was small and two people in there at once was kind of cramped.

Gerard nodded and tore their eyes away from the mirror to look back at Frank, “Yeah.”

Gerard was scratching at their neck as they walked back, Frank was pretty sure it was because they weren’t used to a collar that wasn’t high and lacy.

They both sat on the couch bed, Gerard with their knees pulled up to their chest, making faces at the jeans.

“You okay?” Frank asked, crossing his legs to give Gerard more room.

“They’re tight.” They mumbled, not moving.

“Oh, is it a problem?”

“No.”

Frank nodded and rubbed his arm and studied his socks, after a moment's hesitation he decided that just talking would be easier then trying to squeeze it into a normal conversation. 

“I uh...A few days ago you said you were looking for someone, which was how you ended up in my window.” 

And wow, that was an uncomfortable looking face. Gerard hugged their knees a little tighter and nodded.

“I just thought, since Ray knows pretty much everyone and my family is pretty much everywhere, we would be able to help. If that’s okay with you.”

“I don’t...I don’t know…” Gerard said, doing a pretty convincing impression of what it looked like when you ate a lemon.

Frank nodded, prepared to drop it before Gerard spoke up again.

“His name is Michael.” It was quiet, almost a mumble.

“Michael? Is he a vampire too?” Frank thought back on anyone vaguely Michael-y. There was his best friend’s boyfriend back in sixth grade but he hardly seemed likely.

Gerard’s lemon face was stronger now and Frank was pretty sure he had just hit a nerve.

“Right so, when was the last time you saw him?” 

The question seemed to catch Gerard off guard, “We were...Younger. It was a while ago.”

Frank nodded, putting on his metaphorical detective hat, “Okay, where did you last see him?”

“Home. He was there one day and gone the next.” It took no time for Gerard to answer. It sounded robotic and practised, like they’d said it hundreds of times before. Considering he’d gone missing when they were younger, they probably had.

Frank nodded and put his head in his hands, thinking. He could ask Ray, but Ray was still a little shaken up from yesterday and was probably going to lose his mind if Frank asked him more weird, sudden questions.

There couldn’t be _that_ many Michaels in Jersey, Frank had only known three in highschool and one of them left to become a scientist -Frank had no idea where he was now, probably hiding in a strip club from his wife because his marriage went downhill because he deserved it for stealing Frank’s food right out of his bag and also kicking him in the shin that one time-

“What do you think might have happened to him?” 

That was a poor choice in questions because Gerard immediately froze up, their fingernails digging into their legs. Their jaw shook a little as they took a deep breath.

“Hey, it’s fine if you don’t want to answer that, I get it.” Frank said in a hurry.

Gerard nodded and rested their head in their knees, watching as Frank stood up to grab his phone.

Calling Ray seemed like a good idea, except maybe he might try and explain the context to him a little better and also _before_ he started talking frantically about vampires.

Luckily for him, Ray was on speed-dial from all the nights where he’d woken up at 3 am after dreams about witchy things or when Ray had woken up in the middle of the woods and needed consoling about how he was a good person and would never hurt anyone, even in wolfy state.

He was just about to press dial before he was interrupted by Gerard.

“He was…” Gerard began, clawing gently at their leg, “Witches.”

Frank’s eyes widened, his stomach doing a pretty damn fine recreation of when a cartoon character runs off a cliff and decides that it’s a perfectly good idea to look down.

“Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He didnt wantt to muke ut with hem butt, he smexy so.
> 
> Quit schlool, druhgs gdo
> 
>  
> 
> -crydtal
> 
> (I hate my friends)


	5. 5

Gerard was asleep, Frank had kind of forgotten about the whole nocturnal thing until they had been pottering around in the kitchen at 4 am, wide awake and had spent the entire morning asleep and just...Didn’t wake up again after that.

Frank and Ray sat on Frank’s couch, cold pizza sat in it’s box on the coffee table alongside Ray’s notebook which was currently filled with scribbles and notes from what Gerard had told them.

They hadn’t said much, most of the information they had was from what Gerard had said that night. There wasn’t much to go off of but Ray, being the beam of sunshine he was, believed very firmly that they could find Michael. Whoever Michael was.

“We could put up missing posters or something?” Frank suggested through a mouthful of pizza.

Ray squirmed a little, “What if he’s hiding from someone? Wouldn’t that just call attention to him?”

Frank almost rolled his eyes at that.

“Look, all I’m saying is that maybe there’s a reason why Gerard’s so hesitant to tell you about him.”

Frank did roll his eyes at this point.

“Yeah, because I’m a witch and whatever happened to him involved witches.” He said, like it was an irrefutable fact that everyone knew.

Ray settled back down into the couch, looking skeptically at Frank’s pizza.

They lapsed back into silence, Frank was thinking and Ray looked like he was thinking but he was probably thinking about what he would eat for lunch and how much printer ink costed because he was _boring_.

“There’s that whole...Witch council right? Where the...Grand High Masters talk about magic laws and shit? Or am I just thinking of Harry Potter?”

Frank rolled his eyes again.

“No, we have the Witchcraft police.”

Ray’s eyes widened, “Really?”

“No.”

They thought again, asking around was out of the option and it was one of the full moon days tomorrow so Ray wouldn’t be able to come anyway. Unless they wanted a wolf who was afraid to do anything lest he found himself chomping on someone’s arm following them around all night.

And yes, it had to be at night because that’s when Frank’s friend’s bootleg stand was up and Frank’s friend was surprisingly -almost worryingly, Frank had to admit- knowledgeable in missing persons cases.

There was a clunk from Frank’s room and that’s how he knew Gerard was up. Gerard had been sleeping in bat form. He had no idea if it was a recent thing or if it was just something they did that they couldn’t do when in the lounge room. 

Ray squirmed again, “Frank, what if he’s-”

“Don’t,” Frank warned, “Just don’t.”

“Look, we don’t know how young they were when he went missing, if it really was witches then for all we know he could have been-”

“I said don’t.” Frank snapped, his fingertips were tingling again and he could tell that things were going to start sparking.

Ray shut up, face going pale.

Frank huddled into the corner of the couch, whispering to his hands to please stop because he didn’t want to be responsible for something breaking.

“Frank, hey, calm down.” Ray shuffled closer reaching his hand out to rest of Frank’s shoulder.

And that was really the last straw because he’d been _trying_ to calm down and as much as he loved Ray he had heard people telling him to calm down one too many times and it never fucking worked and-

Something in the kitchen went bang.

“Fuck!” Frank stood up, nearly kicking the coffee table on his way. If he had broken the microwave again he was going to fucking scream and then something else was probably going to break. 

Frank didn’t really care at this point, he nearly knocked over plates and cups on his way to the microwave. Sure enough it both looked and smelled fairly toasted, the inside being quite an off putting shade of brown.

“Fuck.” Frank slammed the small door shut, he _needed_ magic and he didn’t want to waste it fixing his fucking microwave.

Ray was still on the couch, though he had turned around to watch Frank. He sighed and decided to give Ray a show, making a big effort to wave his hands around and pretend to chant magic spells just to watch Ray’s face light up as the cups and bowls obediently dumped themselves into the sink.

Frank stopped however, when he noticed Gerard cowering in the doorway, staring with wide eyes at the sight before them.

“Hey Gerard.” Frank tried his best to swallow his anger.

Gerard didn’t reply, only looked around and swallowed, eyes widening as they saw Ray.

“Hi.” Ray said, sneaking a worried sort of glance at Frank.

Frank waved his hand again and everything stopped moving, the dishes dropped from the air. -thankfully not onto the ground or any other surface on which they could break-

Frank walked over Gerard who flattened themself further against the wall and ignored Ray’s second worried look. 

Frank bit back a comment about how 'It's just magic Gerard, it won't hurt you.' because he was sure Gerard had heard the exact opposite for as long as they could remember.

Instead he opened his palm and, much to the amazement of both Gerard and Ray, concentrated on the small ball of colour. Not quite butterfly shaped, but he was getting there.

He decided against going the feel good lovey dovey route and instead said, "Not all magic is made to hurt people."

Gerard nodded and moved their gaze up to beside Frank's shoulder, looking at Ray with a cocked eyebrow.

"Is he helping?" Gerard asked, still not moving from the wall.

"Uh...Yeah." Frank closed his hand and ignored the sad sound from the couch, "He knows everyone."

"That's not true." Ray yelled, "That's impossible."

Frank rolled his eyes, "Okay fine, he has connections with everyone."

Ray grumbled a little but didn't complain.

Gerard nodded and stood away from the door, it took Frank a second to realise but he got out of Gerard's way and followed him back to the couch.

They sat down and Gerard gestured to the cold pizza still lying there.

"You wouldn't like it." Ray chuckled, "It's vegan."

"Vee...Gan?" Gerard furrowed their eyebrows and Frank had to admit, it was kind of cute.

"No meat." Frank said before Ray could make any quips about how shit it was.

It was pretty shit.

Gerard nodded and stared at the notebook, reading everything over before directing their attention to the name at the bottom of the list. Frank had underlined it, he was pretty proud of it.

"Not Palmerston, it's Way." Gerard said, resting their head on their hand.

It took a few seconds to register, but soon Ray's eyes widened.

"Oh shit."

-

"Don't you have that like...Glamour shit?" Ray asked, digging around the lounge room for the umbrella.

Frank sighed for the umpteenth time that day, "No. Even if I did I'm running low, magic isn't expendable Ray, fuck."

Gerard was caught up in the middle of everything, looking very much like they wanted to go back to sleep.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" They asked, deciding against sitting on a chair and just plopping down on the floor.

"Because," Frank explained, finally finding the jacket he'd been looking for, "If you're talking about who we think you're talking about, it's a big fucking deal."

Gerard looked confused but took the umbrella and jacket that were thrust into their face by both Ray and Frank and made a little eep noise as they stared at the door.

"Fuck." They said and Frank still wasn't used to hearing them swear.

"C'mon," Frank held out his hand and Gerard took it reluctantly, letting themself be dragged up.

"We won't go near actual sunlight unless we have to okay?" Ray said, halfway through the door.

Gerard still looked pretty uncertain but followed them anyway, opening the umbrella as they stepped outside.


	6. 6

Frank had conveniently forgotten about the whole...Vampire thing.

Well, not exactly all of it, he still understood why Gerard was twitchy around sunlight and why they didn't go anywhere near that giant river that parents didn't allow their children to play near.

What he had forgotten however, was that Gerard had absolutely zero fucking idea what was happening around them.

See, vampires were kind of...Fixated on the past, Frank's Grandpa had explained it as 'They don't really know how to move on, like how cousin Anthony keeps polishing his old baseball trophies from three years ago.'

What Gerard was used too was probably a mixture of 1800's to early 1900's with a smattering of 30's and maybe 50's judging from their attire but love for modern swearing.

So they were absolutely terrified the first time they passed Ray's workplace on the way to get Ray's forgotten car keys.

Ray worked at a music store. They played Bowie so loud you could feel it through the floor.

Gerard opted for staying outside and leaning against the wall.

Frank waited with them, tapping his fingers against the window in hopes of it hurrying Ray up.

"You doing okay?" Frank asked, fiddling with the umbrella handle and thanking every god out there that Ray's work faced away from afternoon sun.

"Everything's so...Different." They looked up at the sky, "It's louder."

That might have poetic if Gerard hadn't screwed up their nose and added "Smells funny."

"You've been outside before?" Frank asked, instead of his second option which would have been something along the lines of 'You smell funny.'

Gerard looked sad for a few seconds, "No, but Father has."

“Oh.” He’d kind of forgotten that Vampires did indeed have families, they weren’t just...Nightmare creatures that popped out from thin air.

“He said,” Gerard continued, looking very distant in thought, “He said that when he went out it was always quiet, the only people outside at night were the ladies with sequined dresses and men in suits.”

Gerard sat and thought more, “During the day it was louder, people were everywhere. I didn’t expect it to be like this though.”

Frank nodded and waited to see if Gerard would say anything else, “Well that was…” Frank furrowed his eyebrows, “Years ago, many years ago. Of course things would have changed.”

They nodded and looked down, studying the pavement and the blob of old chewing gum next to their foot.

Ray came out then, saving Frank from the impending awkward silence. He grinned, swinging his car keys around his finger, “Guess who doesn’t have to walk!”

"Fuck yeah!" Frank stood up from the wall, moving to stand next to Ray.

Gerard was still staring at the ground, they didn't move until Frank tapped them on the shoulder and motioned that they were going.

Thankfully, no one gave them weird looks while they were walking. In hindsight there wasn't anything that weird about Gerard and their umbrella and large hat and Frank and his crystals, he just worried.

They all stood outside Ray's car while he did whatever it was Ray did to get his car to work, Frank had never really figured out how to do it.

Gerard didn't look very keen to go inside, they looked at the window with distaste, peering inside to look at the seats.

"You all right there Gerard?" Ray asked, leaning out the open door.

"It's a giant window." They said, "A giant window with wheels."

Frank was about to open his mouth to say that 'It's okay, you can just sit in the middle seat' before he realised that shadows don't really stay still in a car.

Their umbrella would be distracting, the hat wouldn't keep their arms safe and Ray's bottle of sunscreen that he kept in his glovebox because he was _boring_ wasn't going to work either.

 

"Bats are small." Ray suggested, Frank didn't really understand but Gerard made an understanding noise and before Frank knew it he was watching Gerard change shape and their bones snap to accommodate for their new bat shape.

He still wasn't used to that.

They flew into the middle seat and at reached over to close the door. They settled themselves on the centre console, next to the gearstick. 

It kind of looked like they were asleep, that was until Ray started the car and they let out a distressed sounding squeak as the engine sputtered to life.

Frank couldn't help but find it cute as they grabbed onto the fake leather with their little claws while they peeked up over the dashboard.

It took a while, Ray's music was decent though so Frank didn't really mind.

Ray was mumbling about how they have to be "time efficient" because 'We don't have all day and today is a full moon day so hey! Better hurry.'

And Frank kept saying things like 'It's fine, it's only midday.' and 'Dude, even if you do go wolfy you have common sense.'

Gerard seemed unamused with most of the conversation in general but their ears did perk up at the mention of wolf.

They drove and drove and drove, it was quite boring really. If Frank remembered correctly Mikey lived at the end of town, on the border of forest and middle of fucking nowhere.

Frank was pretty sure Gerard had fallen asleep at one point, Frank did too, he couldn't blame them.

They eventually came to the place where the road stopped being tarmac and the dirt began. It looked like the entrance to some kind of fairytale wonderland, surrounded by trees that flowered in Spring. 

It would have been beautiful if it wasn't for the large tire tracks that had been carved into the ground from years of people getting lost and the few that came to visit.

Ray shuddered a little as he manoeuvred the car onto the little dirt road.

One thing Frank still remembered was how bumpy it was, his Mum almost banned him from visiting Mikey back when he was in highschool just because of how much the rocks fucked with her tires.

It was the kind of road only the very adventurous or very stupid went down. Frank was pretty sure they rested firmly on the latter.

Mikey Way was a foggy memory in everyone's minds, the weird zombie kid that always sat just beyond the school gates. He was creepy even in the nicest of words.

Soon they came to the place where the trees lessened, in amongst the clearing sat an old ratty cabin. The lights weren't on, then again Frank couldn't remember a time when they were.

Frank let out a breath as Ray killed the engine, climbing out of his seat to open Gerard’s door. 

They all stood underneath the shade of the tree Ray had parked next to, watching with slight disgust as Gerard morphed back into their regular human shape.

They looked over Ray’s shoulder at the run down little cabin, “You think he’s here?” They didn’t sound unimpressed, just kind of...Confused.

“Maybe.” Frank turned to look at the cabin with Gerard, “If it’s who we think he is.”

They walked up to the cabin door, Gerard under their umbrella and Ray fiddling with the side of his shirt anxiously. Frank raised his fist and knocked on the door, wondering momentarily if he should come up with an excuse, a good enough reason to drop around, something to say because _fuck_ it really has been about three years since they’ve talked and he can’t say it’s just because time flies.

He doesn’t realise it, but he’s opening the door. It’s unlocked, that would have been interesting except Mikey never bothered to lock his door.

“Hello?” Frank called, peering inside at the ugly floral couch and old paintings, “It’s Frank.”

Nothing.

“I uh…” Ray leaned over Frank’s shoulder, “I don’t think he’s home.”

“He’ll be back soon though, right?” Gerard asked, shooting a glance over their shoulder at the road behind them.

Ray looked uncomfortable and Frank rubbed his arm.

“That’s the thing, we…” Ray trailed off.

“We don’t really know _if_ he’ll be coming back.” Frank tried to keep the worry out of his voice, but it was really hard when Gerard’s face fell.

“Hey, we don’t know. He might?” Ray said, but it didn’t really help.

Gerard took a step back from them and sat down on the front step, pulling their knees up to their chest. 

Ray rubbed his arm and stared inside, "We could always...Stay?"

Frank's eyes widened, "What the fuck?"

He waved his arms around frantically, "Nonono, not like break in or whatever. It's just...Mikey never really cared about visitors. Remember?"

Frank remembered.

The first full moon after Ray had been bitten, he'd run away in a fit of panic and had woken up in Mikey's house, lying on the couch with an old grandma blanket around his shoulders.

And when Frank had gotten sick of hearing about magic and how he was destined for greatness of he could only just listen, Mikey just...Let him in.

"We could stay the night, _only_ for one night." Ray continued and Gerard looked back over their shoulder.

"What about food?" Frank leaned against the doorframe, "And the whole wolf thing?"

Ray looked uneasy for a second, "I just...I want to be here, if he does show up. I have a feeling."

"Like dogs and tsunamis?" Frank chuckled.

Ray rolled his eyes and walked inside. Frank and Gerard followed.

 

Inside was much like Frank remembered, everything was quaint and wooden and looked like it belonged in a Bob Ross painting.

There was the little carpet that sat in the middle of the loungeroom that was home to many, many stains. Most of which came from staying up drinking beer that their parents pretended not to notice being packed. 

There was the little lace tea doilies on the big, round mahogany table that had never been moved.

The window into the bedroom that had been covered in band posters.

After Frank had finished looking around he sat down on the floor, taking in the old book smell that seemed to hang around the place. Ray sat next to him and smiled a funny sort of smile, quickly joined by Gerard.

Gerard hadn't said anything while they were looking through the house, but was now clutching an old necklace close to their chest.

"Where did you find that?" Frank asked, when he leaned in closer to inspect it, Gerard pulled it closer.

"Bedroom." They said, still not moving.

"Didn't he say he stole that from a Wallmart?" Ray leaned forward and Gerard glared at him.

"No, this was ours." Gerard said, very defensively, "He kept it after I said we didn't want it."

That...Made sense. Frank was never able to find anything like it anywhere. They'd always just passed it off as something he'd said to make himself sound cooler.

"So, you're sure we've got the right guy? This is Michael?" He said, occupying himself by scratching at the floor.

Gerard nodded once and wrapped the chain around their hand again.

They sat in silence for a minute or two after that, Ray staring out the window and Frank picking at the carpet. Gerard had gotten up to go look around again, staring in wonder at the old paintings.

Ray had gone to go buy food so they wouldn’t have to eat Mikey’s. Frank wasn’t entirely sure if the food in the cupboard was even in date anyway.

Gerard had fallen asleep on the couch and Frank was left to wait for nightfall.


End file.
